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$xhtml = array(
	'<{title}>' => 'People are terrible',
	'takedown' => '2017-11-01',
	'<{body}>' => <<<END
<img src="/img/CC_BY-SA_4.0/y.st./weblog/2019/02/22.jpg" alt="A path across the street" class="framed-centred-image" width="649" height="480"/>
<section id="drudgery">
	<h2>Drudgery</h2>
	<p>
		My discussion post for the day:
	</p>
	<blockquote>
		<h3>Z-scores</h3>
		<p>
			A z-score is the number of standard deviations above the mean a data point falls <a href="https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/probability-and-statistics/z-score/">(Statistics How To, n.d.)</a>.
			That means, of course, that if the data point falls *below* the mean, the z-score will be negative.
			For example, if a point falls -2 standard deviations above the mean, that means it falls 2 standard deviations below the mean.
		</p>
		<p>
			To find the z-score, you subtract the mean from the given data point, then divide this number by the standard deviation (({data}-{mean})/{standard deviation}).
		</p>
		<p>
			What this does is allow you to standardise your data and look at where a data point falls in relation to other data points of the series.
			For example, if you are told that a given foogdar is twenty-one centimetres tall, what does that mean?
			Unless you know what a foogdar is (good luck, that&apos;s a made-up word to prove a point), you don&apos;t know how this one&apos;s height relates to the heights of others of its species.
			Is this one normal?
			Really short?
			Really tall?
			You just don&apos;t know.
			On the other hand, if you know this foogdar&apos;s hight has a z-score of 0.2, you know it&apos;s slightly above average, but well within the range of what&apos;s normal for is kind.
		</p>
		<h3>Min-max scaling</h3>
		<p>
			Min-max scaling instead changes all the numbers so they fall somewhere from zero to one <a href="https://rasbt.github.io/mlxtend/user_guide/preprocessing/minmax_scaling/">(Raschka, n.d.)</a>.
			Basically, you subtract a data point from the minimum value observed, then divide result by the difference between the minimum  value observed and maximum value observed.
			This allows you to fit your values neatly into a range that tells you where the value falls on the observed continuum.
		</p>
		<p>
			For example, if your minimum observed value is two, your maximum observed value is twelve, and a given point&apos;s value is five, the min-max scaled value is 0.3.
		</p>
		<h3>When to use each</h3>
		<p>
			As best I can tell, z-scores seem to give a more-meaningful result than min-max scaling, but only when the observed values fall along a bell curve.
			We know from past courses that about 68% of values on a bell curve will fall within one standard deviation from the mean.
			That means anything with a z-score within ±1 is pretty normal.
			About 95% of values will fall within ±2 standard deviations, so a z-score within ±2 but not within ±1 isn&apos;t too strange.
			Z-scores higher than that are rare though, and represent unusual samples.
			Min-max scaling, on the other hand, seems to be better for values that are more-or-less evenly distributed.
			We can use the resulting number to easily see where along the continuum a given data point falls.
		</p>
		<div class="APA_references">
			<h3>References:</h3>
			<p>
				Raschka, S. (n.d.). <a href="https://rasbt.github.io/mlxtend/user_guide/preprocessing/minmax_scaling/">MinMax Scaling - mlxtend</a>. Retrieved from <code>https://rasbt.github.io/mlxtend/user_guide/preprocessing/minmax_scaling/</code>
			</p>
			<p>
				Statistics How To. (n.d.). <a href="https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/probability-and-statistics/z-score/">Z-Score: Definition, Formula and Calculation - Statistics How To</a>. Retrieved from <code>https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/probability-and-statistics/z-score/</code>
			</p>
		</div>
	</blockquote>
</section>
<section id="kindness">
	<h2>Kindness</h2>
	<p>
		There&apos;s someone at my workplace that for some reason, many people tend to pick on.
		I don&apos;t get what people&apos;s problem is.
		I tend to be nice to this person though.
		I mean, I tend to be civil and polite to just about everyone.
		If you&apos;re actively antagonising me, I&apos;ll have a problem with you, but otherwise, it&apos;s just easier to get along with everyone.
		It&apos;s not worth my emotional energy to try to start something.
	</p>
	<p>
		Today, they said they&apos;d like to make me something, and to pick out some cotton fabric to make it out of.
		That&apos;s awfully nice of them!
		I can&apos;t help but wonder though it it&apos;s because I&apos;m one of the few people that treats them well at work.
		I mean, I don&apos;t even give them any special treatment.
		I just behave like I think a human being should behave.
		We don&apos;t even agree on anything at all, that I can think of.
		On all important topics, we take very different opinions.
		But we do so civilly and politely.
		Is the difference between how I behave so much different than how most of my workmates behave?
		I guess it is.
		And that makes me sad.
		People are horrible.
		I can&apos;t help but wonder how much pain they must be feeling.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="credit">
	<h2>Credit card</h2>
	<p>
		After work, I checked the mail and found another letter from that credit card company.
		So of course, I assumed it was the card they&apos;d sent.
		I have a strange habit when it comes to getting cards in the mail.
		I flex the envelope and verify the card is in there before I open it.
		There was no card though.
		They were sending me another card offer!
		Opening it up, it was the same offer as before.
		These people are impatient.
		I replied to their offer a day after I&apos;d gotten it.
		They likely sent this one before the last one had even made it to me.
	</p>
</section>
END
);
